The Second Choice
by newfanofhp86
Summary: Vernon Dursley killed Harry Potter. Of course Vernon does not expect later to be betrayed by one person who he thinks loves him. When Dumbledore find's out that Harry is dead, he turns to Neville Longbottom to be the one to fulfil the prophecy.
1. Chapter 1

The small boy woke up when there was slamming from above. Dust particles fell down on to him and he began to choke. Figuring it was just his cousin jumping up and down on the steps; he rolled over on his side and closed his eyes. As he did this, there was a loud hammering on the door of his 'bedroom' so he opened his eyes. Stretching, he sat up just as the door opened.

Peering in at him was the chubby purple face of his uncle, and he looked furious. The boy stared back at his uncle fearfully.

"You!" He hissed. "How dare you wake me!"

As the man said that, the boy realized that it was quite dark in the hallway behind the man. When a person spent all their time in a cupboard, it was hard to know when it was daytime or night time. He shuddered, but didn't say a word. He must have screamed in his sleep. This happened a lot when he had nightmare.

Suddenly, the man reached in and grabbed the boy by the hair and pulled him out.

"You ungrateful stupid brat! You wake me up in the middle of the night when I have to work the next day?"

SMACK!

The boy held in a gasp as his uncle smacked him across the man.

"I work hard to make sure you have food in your stomach, and clothes on your back and this how you repay me?"

This was far from the truth. Oh, the boy got food sometimes, but it wasn't everyday that he was allowed to eat. Usually he was allowed to eat something in the morning to give him strength to do his chores, but other than that he didn't eat. As for clothes? The clothes he wore were his Cousin Dudley's hand-me-downs. They were far too large for the tiny boy's frame when his cousin was so vastly overweight.

The boy didn't say anything. He knew better than to speak. He hoped the punishment would be a small one. His tiny body was already so sore; he didn't think he could handle another beating. Just as he thought this, his uncle gave him another smack across the face.

"Well! Answer me!" His uncle shouted.

"I'm sorry Uncle Vernon," the boy said, "nightmare!"

Uncle Vernon lifted the boy up and then threw him hard into a wall. The child let out a cry of pain, which only enraged the man even more. He began to kick the child hard in the stomach. The child tried to protect himself but it was no use.

"You're a nightmare!" Uncle Vernon shouted and stomped on the child's arm. "You've been a nightmare since the day we took you!"

There was a loud crack as he stomped on the child's arm again. He reached down and pulled the little boy up by the hair.

"Well _Harry Potter _I have had enough of you! Tomorrow you are going to an orphanage!"

He slammed Harry's face into the wall hard and then did it again. He didn't even realize that the child wasn't making anymore sounds. He didn't realize that he had killed the boy when he had kicked the child too hard in the stomach. Vernon Dursley didn't seem to care. He continued to smash the child's face into the wall. Even if he hadn't killed the boy before, he would have after the little ones face smashed into the wall several times.

"Vernon?"

The man dropped his nephew as a light turned on. His wife, Petunia ran down the stairs startled.

"What's going on?"

She stared down at their nephew, and a look of horror crossed her face. Vernon followed his wife's stare and he felt as if he had swallowed a rock. Harry Potter was not moving, he was also covered in blood, and he appeared to be broken.

"_What did you do?" _Petunia asked. "He's-he's dead!"

Vernon couldn't say anything at first. He hadn't meant to kill the child; he had just wanted the boy to pay for waking him! However, five-year-old Harry Potter lay dead at their feet. The poor little boy had barely begun to live, and now he wouldn't. In the future he was supposed to fulfill a prophecy, but he wouldn't be able to do so now that he was dead.

* * *

Vernon and Petunia had checked to make their nephew was indeed dead. When this was confirmed, they went out to the backyard to dig a hole for the boy. Luckily they had a high fence, no one would ever notice. Vernon also planned to buy some grass to put over the spot. They made sure to dig the hole very very deep.

Afterward, Petunia cleaned up the blood off of the walls, and floor. They were relieved that their son hadn't woken to witness what Vernon had done to Harry. Their night clothes were covered in blood and mud, so they threw it in the garbage. No one would ever have to know what happened to the little boy. If the wizarding people came, they would tell them that they had dropped the child off at an orphanage.

They would have to tell the same to the neighbours as well, especially to nosy Mrs. Figg. The woman baby-sat the child for them at times, and sometimes asked about the boy's well-being. She would be the first person they would tell the news to.

* * *

A/N: Yes, Harry is dead. He will not be coming back later the story, but don't worry, the Dursley's will pay. The wizards will eventually find out what happened to him. It won't be until first year when Dumbledore finds out Harry is dead, and then he will then turn to Neville, the next in line.


	2. Chapter 2

Six Years Later

Albus Dumbledore looked through the list of the students which consisted of those who would be in the first year. A magical quill had scrolled down their names eleven years ago, when they were born. Over the years, it had updated their statuses. He was surprised when he found Harry Potter's name.

_Potter, Harry James. Born 31 July, 1980. Deceased 8 September__, __1985_

He read over the line again. According to Abarella Figg, the boy had been sent to an orphanage around that time six-years-ago. He had gone to the Dursley's afterward to talk to them. He had wanted to convince them to take their nephew back, but they wouldn't listen.

"That child has hurt my son with his freaky powers too much," Vernon Dursley had said. "We dropped him off at an orphanage overnight in London. You can find him there if you want him back."

Albus, and several other wizards had spent the last six years looking for the boy, but they hadn't been able to find him. After a while, he decided that when it was time for the boy to come to Hogwarts, he would be found. The quill would write down the contact information of a child the summer before their first year. It had been a method devised years ago so the Headmaster or Headmistress would be able to find Muggleborn students.

The quill never lied, but Albus checked it over. Perhaps it was malfunctioning. After he used a few spells on it, he found that it was fine. He wrote down Harry Potter's name again with it. It hovered beside the name for a few seconds before it again copied out:

_Born 31 July, 1980. Deceased 8 September,__1985 _beside the name.

Harry Potter was dead. It didn't seem possible. Ten years ago, he had dropped the boy off at his aunt and uncle's in hopes for the boy to survive. The blood wards were supposed to protect the child. Albus didn't count on his relatives abandoning him. What if someone had harmed the child after they took him to the orphanage? According to the Dursley's they had dropped him off in the middle of the night.

Albus Dumbledore didn't get angry easily, but he was full of hatred at that moment. He would have to visit the Dursley's. It was their fault after all that something had happened to little Harry Potter.

* * *

Petunia Dursley put a plate of toast on the table. Instantly, her blond overweight son (though she didn't think he was) reached for the top slice. He practically shoved the toast in his mouth. She gave him a small smile before she turned to the stove to fry up some bacon.

Dudley never found out what happened to his cousin that awful night nearly six years ago. She hoped he never would. He had asked after his cousin, but after they told him he was gone, he seemed to accept this when he was five. However, something had changed in him two year ago, and neither Petunia nor Vernon could figure it out.

The boy was very angry about something; he only came out of his room at meal times. Otherwise, he stayed up in his room, or he played with his friends. Vernon told Petunia that their son was just growing up. He explained that sometimes children snapped at their parents, but he would grow up of it.

She hoped this was true. Dudley had been a happy child before then. They always made sure to provide him with what he needed over the years. If the boy asked for a toy, it was more than likely that he would get it. He had also been happier when Harry left; the boy had never liked his cousin.

"Here is some bacon sweetums," Petunia said as she turned to Dudley with the pan.

Dudley must have been scowling at her back while she made breakfast, because he tried to change his expression. _Was it normal for an eleven-year-old boy to glare at his parents so much?_ She wondered.

After she put the bacon on his plate, the doorbell rang. She hurried away from her son, to answer the door after she put the pan back on the stove. When she opened the door, she was surprised to find the old man who had come to visit them six years ago, on her doorstep. Without waiting for her to invite him in, he stepped inside the house and shut the door behind him.

"Good morning Mrs. Dursley, is your husband home as well?" He asked.

He was angry, even though his voice and face didn't show it. The anger seemed to radiate off of him, and she felt uneasy. Vernon was upstairs getting ready for work. She told him this and then asked why he had come.

"I would like to ask what you and your husband were thinking six years ago. Harry was five-years-old and you dropped him off at an orphanage in the middle of the night. Because you did this, that child is dead. Something must have happened to him that night."

Petunia didn't know what to say. Of course she knew what really happened to Harry, but she wouldn't tell him that. They didn't think that the wizards would ever find out that the boy was dead.

"How- how do you know this?" She asked.

At that point Vernon was coming down the stairs. He looked startled to see that Albus Dumbledore had returned. They hadn't expected to ever see him again. They had hoped the wizards would just give up on the search for Harry Potter.

"There is a magical-" Petunia flinched at the word "quill which copies down magical students. It tells us the day they were born, their addresses and their statuses. Imagine my surprise when I saw that Harry Potter had died on the eighth of September in nineteen eighty-five. I believe that is around the time you abandoned the boy."

Petunia would never forget that date; it was the day when Vernon had killed Harry. Her husband stared down at her uneasily, but he didn't say anything. Normally her husband would be shouting by now, but Albus always seemed to leave them both speechless. Now there was anger radiating all around them.

There was a creak behind them. Petunia jumped to see Dudley peering at them though the kitchen door.

"I'm done breakfast," he muttered. "I just wanted to go for a walk."

Without waiting for them to say anything, Dudley pushed past Petunia and Albus roughly. He slammed the front door behind him. This wasn't different from any other morning, so Petunia didn't pay him any mind. She just turned back to the old wizard.

"Why couldn't you have waited until daylight to drop him off?" Albus asked. "I do believe I also told you to contact me with any problems you might have."

Albus had reminded them that, six years earlier as well. In the letter he had left with baby Harry, he had explained that the boy had to stay with them to keep him safe. It had something to do with blood wards because Lily Potter had sacrificed herself for the boy. It had also explained that if they had any problems at all with the boy, they should contact him immediately.

_You've contacted me before, Petunia. You will be able to do so again. _

Neither Petunia nor Vernon could answer him, and even though the kind face of Albus didn't change, the air around them did. The air felt hot around them. Petunia looked over at her husband; his face had gone very pale.

"Now your nephew is dead. This is not the last you will hear from me," he said, his voice had turned could now. "I will be back, and there will be punishment for abandoning a child-"

"But you've punished us already!" Vernon said, he had finally found his voice. "You charged us a good amount of _my _money for it!"

"Yes, but I didn't know that Harry Potter was dead by that point. I am astounded that the two of you don't even seem to feel remorse. Someone must have done something terrible to that child, and you don't even care."

And with that, Albus Dumbledore turned to leave the house.

* * *

Albus knew that Dursley's only cared about what would happen to them. Neither one felt remorseful for their actions. His next action would be going to the _Wizenmagot_. He would also have to contact Muggle authority. They would not get away with this now. They as good as murdered an innocent child.

"Excuse me sir," Albus had been too busy lost in his thoughts as he headed down the Dursley's sidewalk.

Little Dudley Dursley (though the boy wasn't exactly physically little) was crouched down by the garden wall.

"I can't let them see me," he whispered. "But I know something about what really happened to my cousin. I overheard my parents talking about it two years ago. I've been wanting to tell someone for a while, but I was too scared."

Albus stared down at the boy, and then gave him a small nod, indicating that he should continue.

"My parents never dropped him off at an orphanage… my dad murdered him," he said.

* * *

A/N: You might find it strange that Dudley is angry about his parents killing Harry since he hated his cousin, but I think a child would be angry to find out their father was a murderer. He's probably be also angry that his mother had helped. I'm going to go into it more, but Dudley was planning to tell someone, so when Albus came, he found his opportunity.

Anyway. That's it for this chapter. I'll be working on the next chapter.


End file.
